The chickens came home to roost for Barack Obama today.





In a 45 minute speech he seems to have said everything ... and yet said nothing.


Surprise - this is the continuing essence of the Obama campaign!


He seems to admit that the most important person in his life is an unabashed racist and America hater ... but refuses to distance himself any further from him.


He continues to lie about his (or Michelle's) being present for any of these regular diatribes while providing a little wiggle room to explain away all of the likely challenges that are likely to come now that he's laid down the gauntlet.


He continues with the "crazy uncle" metaphor by bringing his maternal grandmother into the picture yet ignores the basic reality that his choices to be deeply tied and associated with a person of the caliber of the Rev. Wright, defies credulity with anyone who has a grandmother or has ever gone to church in one's life.


Would anyone else call their beloved Pastor - or anybody else they truly respect - a crazy uncle? or blame their predicament on their grandmother?


This is where politics meets reality.


The politics of hope meet the politics of blame.


The reality is that Obama is deeply tied to Wright and feels no shame nor need to distance himself other than that now required to maintain his political viability.


His surrogates are now out in full court press to try and pump up his remarks.


A reporter from the Washington Post appeared on MSNBC afterwards and kept having to look down and refer to his Obama campaign prepared crib notes.


What's more surprising is the degree to which others are so caught up in the oratory they can't seem to get past the tenor of the speach to the underlying audacity of what those words are saying and the implications of what they mean - that, yes, Wright is indeed a racist and an America hater, but that he (Obama) doesn't agree with those few aspects of his message (like they're in any way separable), that America is to blame for these sentiments in the first place, and the seemingly undeniable unstated charge that anybody who continues to challenge him or his beliefs after this great message is undoubtedly themselves a racist.


This is unbelievable audacity.


This is Barack Obama.


TRANSCRIPT: Drudge    Links


MORE: JustOneMinute    Right Wing Nut House


Hyscience - Jeremiah Wright's Church Bulletins from July 2007 Make Whether Obama Was Present on July 22 Irrelevant


Megan McArdle - And then he has to go and make possibly the stupidest remark in this entire campaign--or at least, Best in Class (you can't really expect him to outdo a television anchor.) "This time we need to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn't look like you will take your job, it's that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit."


JPOD: The eloquence of the speech will almost certainly mask Obama’s sophisticated effort here to condemn and not to condemn, to say something but not say anything, to sound clear while being extremely unclear.


AJStrata - It is a little late to finally admit the truth - sort of.


BASE: There is some talk emerging from Obama supporters and the media that this speech has helped Obama shore up his base ... this seems to suggest that the damage that has been done here is far deeper than previously contemplated. Polls in recent days suggest that a mere 8% of Americans - regardless of race - approve of the Rev. Wright. Extrapolating from that, and presuming 6% of those so responding are Obama supporters and 2% maybe left thinking Democrats at large, that leaves a huge chasm of disapproval from even within his own ranks! This speech of Obama's is like pulling the parachute as you're plummeting to earth on an ill-fated sky-dive. If the purpose (and glorified reaction) for this speech was to simply keep the restless on the (liberal) plantation - that portends huge divisions in the public at large in the coming national election. Even aside from the issue at large, grave and unrecoverable doubts have now been realized about the empty vessel itself and will prove fertile ground for discussion of the broader issues in the election which will be Obama's deep and abiding love of socialism, beyond his unrepentant love for the messages from the Rev. Wright. Or at least the messages Obama heard on the few days he was actually at Rev. Wright's church, or was sitting in the pews ... or was photographed thereby, and could possibly be held to account to.


PRIOR POST: Cutting the Head off a Snake


Power Line calls the speech "courageous" - IMO there's no way responding to events out of political desperation can ever (never!) be an act of "courage".


Riehl: Obama On The Radio: Wow, That Stunk!


HANNITY: Playing new tapes of Rev. Wright that ABC has surfaced. Apparently these are more of those sermons Obama missed.


Jules Crittenden - I’ve been trying to figure out whether it was more condescending to black people, white people or Americans in general.


ROGER: Hedgecock plays some audio of Obama introducing and celebrating the Rev. Wright at a meeting of his Spiritual Counsel.